5 Ways to Turn Showing to Telling

Have you ever read a book where you felt like you were actually living the story with the character? Have you read one where the character felt remote and lifeless? I can guarantee the reason for both is showing vs. telling.

Telling is the old style of writing—the reader is an overseer in the room, seeing the characters through the eyes of a disembodied narrator. The author tells the reader exactly what to feel and think about everything that happens.

Showing, on the other hand, lets the reader view the story through the eyes of the characters themselves. That sometimes means leaving out details that the character wouldn’t know. It means trusting the reader to weigh the evidence and draw their own conclusions.

Here are a few ways to turn telling into showing.

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